16 ms·

Why not build a system of dikes around the island? What about poldering? Is that feasible here? The island is only 26 square kilometers.

rbanffy 5y ago
I don't think it's feasible with local resources. Breakwaters would help with coastal erosion, but, if done wrong, would cause enormous damage to coastal ecosystems.
ocschwar 5y ago
The hard part is keeping people living safely on the island.
roywiggins 5y ago
The land area of Fulafuti is 2.4 square kilometers, but the total area of the atoll is 275 square kilometers: it's a ring of islands surrounding a lagoon. The lagoon is 120 feet deep. The atoll is basically the tip-top of a vast underwater mountain that drops away precipitously: there's nothing to build a dike on. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funafuti https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funafuti https://tuvalu-data.sprep.org/system/files/Rapport_de_leve_CPS.pdf https://tuvalu-data.sprep.org/system/files/Rapport_de_leve_C...
- Y_Y 5y ago
  Then let's make the old land the dike and build everything in the lagoon. Maybe we can mine the Pacific Trash Island for building material.
  - roywiggins 5y ago
    The density of the pacific garbage patch is not high, it's not an island so much as a denser soup of trash than other areas. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_garbage_patch https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_garbage_patch
    - Y_Y 5y ago
      Well that's pessimistic! If there's any justice in the world then the rising sea levels will be compensated by an generous outpouring of plastics into the ocean and a corresponding increase in the density of the PTI.
- robocat 5y ago
  The atolls are made of coral - the rock of the top of the volcanic mountain is more than half a kilometre (> 500 yards) below. - Drilling explorations at Funafuti from 1896 to 1898 resulted in 340 m long cores comprising shallow-water carbonates. Subsequent analysis of the drill cores suggests a subsidence rate for Funafuti of approximately 30 m/Ma [30 metres per million año/year]. - report on a refraction line in Nukufetau lagoon, concluding that volcanics are capped by approximately 760 m of limestones. The pdf has great information.

rbanffy 5y ago

I don't think it's feasible with local resources. Breakwaters would help with coastal erosion, but, if done wrong, would cause enormous damage to coastal ecosystems.

ocschwar 5y ago

The hard part is keeping people living safely on the island.

roywiggins 5y ago

The land area of Fulafuti is 2.4 square kilometers, but the total area of the atoll is 275 square kilometers: it's a ring of islands surrounding a lagoon. The lagoon is 120 feet deep. The atoll is basically the tip-top of a vast underwater mountain that drops away precipitously: there's nothing to build a dike on. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funafuti https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funafuti https://tuvalu-data.sprep.org/system/files/Rapport_de_leve_CPS.pdf https://tuvalu-data.sprep.org/system/files/Rapport_de_leve_C...

Y_Y 5y ago
Then let's make the old land the dike and build everything in the lagoon. Maybe we can mine the Pacific Trash Island for building material.
- roywiggins 5y ago
  The density of the pacific garbage patch is not high, it's not an island so much as a denser soup of trash than other areas. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_garbage_patch https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_garbage_patch
  - Y_Y 5y ago
    Well that's pessimistic! If there's any justice in the world then the rising sea levels will be compensated by an generous outpouring of plastics into the ocean and a corresponding increase in the density of the PTI.
robocat 5y ago
The atolls are made of coral - the rock of the top of the volcanic mountain is more than half a kilometre (> 500 yards) below. - Drilling explorations at Funafuti from 1896 to 1898 resulted in 340 m long cores comprising shallow-water carbonates. Subsequent analysis of the drill cores suggests a subsidence rate for Funafuti of approximately 30 m/Ma [30 metres per million año/year]. - report on a refraction line in Nukufetau lagoon, concluding that volcanics are capped by approximately 760 m of limestones. The pdf has great information.